Sports

NASL releases 2013 Fall Season schedule - In with the Cosmos, out with the Islanders

Today, the North American Soccer League (NASL) released their 2013 Fall Season schedule, which will open Saturday, August 3 after a month-long break that begins following the last round of Spring Season games on July 4. The 56-match Fall Season will conclude Saturday, November 2 with a full slate of matches involving all eight NASL clubs. The winner of the Fall Season will face the winner of the Spring Season in the one-game NASL Soccer Bowl.

The two most significant developments are the arrival of the revamped New York Cosmos and the absence of the Puerto Rico Islanders. The Cosmos opens play on August 3 against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers at James M. Shuart Stadium, on the campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Meanwhile contrary to previous public pronouncements, the Puerto Rico Islanders will not participate in the 2013 NASL season at all. When the Spring Season schedule was released in December, the Islanders promulgated a statement stating it would return for the 2013 Fall Season this August. However, league officials privately expressed skepticism that would happen, and today’s schedule release makes that suspicion official.

This afternoon, the Islanders released a statement relaying their intent to return to the NASL for the 2014 season.

The Cosmos’ lone 2013 visit to WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. takes place on Saturday, August 17 when they face the Carolina RailHawks. The RailHawks travel to New York for the rematch on Saturday, October 12.